James Currey Prospective Authors

Why Publish with James Currey?

James Currey publishes books by many of the leading figures in African Studies as well as first time authors. On submission your proposal and manuscript will receive attention from an editorial team committed to African Studies and will benefit from peer review by area specialists. Once included in the James Currey list your work will join some of the most influential titles in the field, by a distinguished set of authors. On publication your book will be marketed by a team with long experience in the Africanist and African academic book market. We attend African Studies conferences in the UK, Europe, US and Africa, where we not only display and sell the James Currey list, but also make contact with authors and their latest research projects.

We are dedicated to distributing books about Africa in Africa and have long been noted for marketing our titles through a network of African co-publishers. This policy continues with Boydell & Brewer, working with a network of publishers as well as new marketing strategies. New titles in the James Currey imprint now also benefit from the Boydell & Brewer global marketing network, covering the Americas, Europe, Asia and Australia.

Production support for James Currey books is provided by Boydell & Brewer Ltd. The books are thoughtfully designed and carefully produced, with attention given to paper quality, binding, and the reproduction quality of interior photographs, musical examples, and other artwork. The Boydell & Brewer production staff work with professional designers to create attractive and marketable book covers, and with printers to ensure the books will be durable and long-lasting.

See our call for manuscripts information.

James Currey Series

African Anthropology
African Articulations
African Issues
African Literature Today
African Theatre
Eastern Africa Series
Future Rural Africa
Making & Remaking the African City: Studies in Urban Africa Series
Religion in Transforming Africa
Western Africa Series

Book Proposal Guidelines

Our proposal provides us with the information necessary to make an initial appraisal of your publication project. If we decide that it is a possibility for the list, we will contact you to request further material for peer review. We welcome these proposals for consideration before submission of a manuscript. Use the proposal forms available on this website and include a brief synopsis of the main argument and objectives of the work, estimated word length, intended readership and a contents list. A brief personal CV is also useful. Initial enquiries, proposals and CVs may be sent by post or email. Please do not send email attachments of chapters or whole manuscripts unless requested by the publishers.

As a matter of policy, we do not consider proposals under review by other publishers. 

We do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.

Authors of recently completed theses are encouraged to contact us with proposals, but they should be aware that even the best thesis requires revision before being successfully transformed into a book. We advise that, as well as listening to the suggestions of supervisors and examiners, the most important thing is to seek the reactions of a wide range of colleagues before approaching a publisher. See our author guidelines for notes on how to turn a thesis into a book.

Proposals may be sent directly to: 

Megan Milan
Commissioning Editor
[email protected]

Proposals for African Articulations to the Series Editors:

Stephanie Newell
English Department
PO BOX 208302
Yale University
New Haven, CT 06520-8302
[email protected]

Ranka Primorac
University of Southampton
Department of English
Faculty of Humanities
Avenue Campus, Highfield
Southampton SO17 1BJ
[email protected]

Proposals for Making & Remaking the African City: Studies in Urban Africa to the Series Editors:
Professor Marie Huchzemeyer: [email protected]
Dr Taibat Lawanson: [email protected]
Professor Ola Uduku: [email protected]

Proposals for Religion in Transforming Africa to the Series Editors:
Dr Barbara Bompani: [email protected]
Dr Joseph Hellweg: [email protected]
Dr Emma Wild-Wood: [email protected]

Proposals for Future Rural Africa to the Series Editors:
Prof. Dr. Michael Bollig: [email protected]
Prof. Dr. Detlef Müller-Mahn: [email protected]